The number of same-sex couple households in Seattle has surged since the start of the decade. And with that increase, for the first time, Seattle now ranks No. 1 among major U.S. cities for the share of households that are same-sex couples.
From 2019 to 2023, there was a 49% increase in same-sex couple households in Seattle, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. In raw numbers, that represents an increase from about 7,800 such households in 2019 to 11,600 in 2023.
Seattle’s percentage of same-sex couple households has increased each year since 2019, when they made up 2.3% of Seattle households. At that point, Seattle had the fourth-highest percentage among the nation’s 50 most-populous cities. San Francisco was No. 1, at 2.7%, followed by Washington, D.C., and Portland, both at around 2.4%.
The latest data shows that in 2023, same-sex couples increased to 3.2% of Seattle’s 365,000 households. That put Seattle at No. 1 among major cities for the first time. Portland was a close second, at 3.1%, followed by San Francisco at 2.9%.
Omaha had the lowest percent of same-sex couple households in 2023, at just 0.5%. Oklahoma City and Bakersfield, Calif., were next, both at 0.6%.
Naturally, the legalization of same-sex marriage has played a major role in the sharp increase in households with same-sex couples.
Washington voters legalized same-sex marriage in 2012. One year earlier, in 2011, census data shows there were only about 3,600 same-sex couple households in Seattle. By 2019, the number had more than doubled.
In 2015, the Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized same-sex marriage across the U.S.
Since then, same-sex couple households have increased at a fast pace nationally. From 2019 to 2023, the number of such households jumped by 35%, growing from around 982,000 to 1.32 million.
The rate of increase in Seattle was even faster, and there was another interesting difference in the pattern of growth in same-sex couple households between Seattle and the nation as a whole.
In Seattle, it seems, marriage isn’t quite as popular among same-sex couples as it is nationally.
For the U.S. as a whole, since 2019, the number of same-sex married couples increased at a faster pace than the number who chose to live together without marrying. That makes sense, since legalization of same-sex marriage is still a relatively recent development.
In Seattle, though, after the initial burst of same-sex marriages following legalization in 2012, the trend reversed.
Married couples had made up the clear majority of same-sex households in Seattle in 2019. But by 2023, there was a nearly even split, with roughly 5,900 married couples and 5,700 unmarried-partner households. From 2019 to 2023, unmarried same-sex couples living together jumped by 80% while married couple households increased by just 28%.
Nationally, in 2023, married couples made up 59% of same-sex couple households.
The new census data doesn’t break down the same-sex couple household numbers by gender, but the 2020 Census showed that in Seattle, 59% of such households were gay men and 41% were lesbians.
Twenty Washington cities — those with a population of at least 65,000 — are included in the 2023 data. As you might expect, Seattle had the highest percentage of same-sex couple households.
Marysville ranked second, with same-sex couples making up 2.1% of households, followed by Kent at 2%. The lowest percentage was in Sammamish, at 0.2%.
Among Washington’s largest cities, Tacoma had the highest percentage after Seattle, at 1.8%, followed by Spokane at 1.5%, Vancouver at 1.1% and Bellevue at 0.5%.
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